I love to cook, experiment, try new foods and restaurants. As a coeliac this is often a little difficult. There is the converting recipes that you have used for years, to be GF friendly. Eating out somewhere new, or even with a new chef, it's either a great night or a huge pain in the belly! I hope you enjoy my recipes, stories and adventures of my life as a coeliac.

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Tuesday, 29 November 2011

The ignorance of some restaurants about gluten free food

I've mentioned this in previous posts, but have you ever been so frustrated by the ignorance of some chefs and restaurants in their menu production.
Last night I was perusing the menu of a well known and up market restaurant. I was initially impressed by the gf selection they had, but on closer inspection I was a little confused to say the least! You see there were several dishes on the menu that have specific gf ingredients, one was chicken with quinoa. Now as we know, this is definately a gf grain, I've even supplied recipes on the website using the grain. I was amazed to discover that beside these dishes was (to be gf you need to remove the quinoa)! WTF!!! I couldn't believe it! A dish which is renowned for being gf has now been taken off the gf menu and replaced by a more basic alternative of the dish!
The ignorance didn't stop there! Another meal on the menu had polenta as one of the key ingredients. For those who dont know polenta is derived from corn, thus it is completely gf. On this menu, for the meal to be gf, the polenta had to be removed from the dish!
It truely amazes me that a chef at a high calibre of restaurant, has such little knowledge of gluten, a substance that they cook with regularly but is also something that can cause an reaction, an autoimmune reaction to their customers.
When you read this on a menu, it makes you a bit cautious if you choice to eat at the restaurant! If their knowledge of gluten is so limited, which is made oblivious on the menu, will they be cooking the gf dishes, unknowingly with gluten?
Have you had the same problem with a relative fancy restaurant, or indeed any restaurant?
After my little rant I'll finish on a positive, hats off to the chef at 6 Months in Picton, who has a detailed understanding of gluten and cooks with gf flours to ensure a more enjoyable dining experience for all, without having any unpleasant reactions!
Feel free to jump on the rant wagon about the ignorance of chefs about gluten free foods,comment or email your annoyances!